Tina, Sorry about your yarrow loss. I understand that is easy to grow, does anything else in that bed show any signs of a disease or some other unknown cause? Is there anybody in your household that doesn't like your yarrow? Maybe somebody else will come up with a better answer. My neighbor has offer me some of hers but I'm going to wait till Spring to take it or late Fall I think, she said she is sorry she planted it . She is almost 84 and has a lot of health issues and is not able to take care of it anymore. It has been so hot this summer, that she hasn't even bothered any of her plants. I have a feeling, she'll have them all dug up and just do container gardening next year.

Fast growing Clematis in my zone 5 garden have been mainly viticellas. These are group 3 (refers to pruning type in clem-speak) clems and can be cut down to the ground in early spring, since they bloom on new growth. Most of them are not the large flowered ones offered so often in our local nurseries. IMO the smaller flowered ones often fit in the best in perennial gardens. Here are some group 3s that have grown very quickly for me: Betty Corning - (viticella) pale blue-lavender bell shaped blooms. This one blooms almost continuously for me. 12 foot Madame Julia Corevon - (viticella) wine red flowers, great rebloomer, not quite as tall as BC 6-8 ft Etoile Violette - (viticella) deep blue purple flowers, heavy bloomer, great with pale pinks 8-12 ft starts later that the first two then blooms for about 6 weeks for me. Polish Spirit - (usu. listed as viticella) deep purple with hint of red, very vigorous grower, in zone 5 would probably not outgrow an arbor, but might need mid-summer trimming. I use mine along a fence, up the gutter and wall, and across Endless Summer Hydrangea planted in the corner formed by the fence and house wall. Duchess of Albany - a texensis (despite the name it is very hardy here) - pink with red bar, quite a nice saturated color in my full sun conditions, flowers are small upright and tulip shaped, great grower & blooms for at least a month, also some rebloom August/Sept. Blue Angel (Blekitny Aniol) (viticella) - pale blue fading to white in center 4 inch flowers, large flowered for a vit, with a fairly heavy substance. 10-12 foot - planted next to the Duchess for a smashing combo. Sweet Autumn (sometimes listed as paniculata) extremely vigorous grower, masses of half inch creamy white flowers in fall (Sept-Oct) 20 foot - can definitely make a wall if you have a structure for it. I grow 2 of them to make a 40 plus foot privacy fence in an area too small for shrubs (along a concrete walkway and patio area).

The Victorian style of gardening was dead, dead, dead right around 1900. It survived in public parks and railroad stations but most people had come to dislike it intensely. One of its chief features was the bedding-out of annuals, both flowering and foliage plants. I am now seeing some of these foliage plants, like coleus, so popular in the 1800s, popular again. Huge foliage plants such as cannas were also big with the Victorians and scorned after 1900. William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll began a revolution in English gardens. They advocated naturalistic planting styles and perennials. They also wrote books. Jekyll designed gardens for the very rich in England, never stirring from her hidden home at Munstead Wood, which I have had the great good fortune to visit. Jekyll was inspired by English cottage gardens but her gardens were planned for the upper class. Her books were very popular and well-to-do Americans bought them with enthusiasm. However, American gardeners soon found that English garden books do not translate very well in our climate. A whole new garden literature, most of it written by women gardeners, arose. These books were, I believe, the largest influence on American gardens from 1900 til WW2. They generally showed naturalistic groups of perennials in geometric beds. Borders were hugely popular, as well as the style described above, so often with a sundial at the center. Sorry for the long post!

Thanks for your answers. Some research that I have been doing indicates that rice water used as a base liquid and combined with other natural materials may be more effective treatment for various plant diseases. Evidently these are very ancient techniques and I was hopeful that someone on this Forum might have run across reference to them. Rice water could be made in three ways (I think). The first would be to soak unhulled rice grains in water for two or three days, strain it, and I find indication that this may possibly be a control for root knot nematode. Also, some experiments allude to faster, stronger seedling growth when watered with this type of rice water. The second method would be water poured off from cooked rice water. Yes, Scott, I know about the recent postings of using milk to control plant mildew problems. Wonder what happens if we combine it with cooked rice water? The third method might be rice flour whisked into water. The last two methods produce a starchy water which may just act as a 'paste' to adhere whatever to a plant surface....i.e. compost tea water + a bit of rice water may yield interesting results. I will stop rambling on the subject and begin experimenting when growing season comes around again. Hopefully you all have found the book LANDSCAPE AS SPIRIT by Mosko and Noden. Beautiful book! May help out those of you working on rock setting projects.